Surgical suction devices, such as hand-held suckers, are used for removing blood and other body fluids from surgical sites, for example, to provide a clear view of the site during an operation. Where fine and delicate areas of the body are surgically involved, such as when delicate brain tissue, small veins, arteries, and nerves are operated on, for example, as when sutured, suckers having tips with suction orifices of small diameter are employed. The fine tips allow the accurate suctioning of very small amounts of liquid from selected areas.
With some suckers, it is possible to effect a high suction or negative pressure at the suction orifice when the orifice is occluded by body tissue. For example, when the suction orifice is occluded such that no liquid or air flows into the suction source, the negative pressure at the suction orifice increases to that of the source. Such a high pressure differential may, of course, cause excessive tissue grab and damage to occluding body tissue.
Some such suckers have suction tips of stainless steel with a suction orifice of small diameter. Such fine tips allow small quantities of liquid, such as small globules, of blood, to be removed from the site. However, because these tips are of rigid steel and of small diameter, there is the danger that inadvertent movement of the manually held sucker could readily damage delicate tissue.
Some suction suckers often produce relatively loud noises, such as gurgling sounds caused by the movement of air and liquid in the tip, as well as vibrations. Such vibrations are transmitted to the hand of the operator and this increases the difficulty of suctioning body fluids in small areas of the body.